The present invention relates to a bill handling machine that separates, transfers and stores bills, and more particularly to a bill handling machine that makes it easy for the user to extract bills transferred to the bill input/output part, and that can inform the user that some bills left overlooked remain in the bill input/output part and also notify when to re-enter the bills when necessary.
Of conventional bill handling machines used in financial institutions, a type of machine is well known which is composed of a bill input/output slot, a transfer path, a discriminator, a temporary holder, bill storage cases, and bills to be received or paid are stored in the bill input/output space as disclosed in JP-A-11-175801, for example.
With the above-mentioned conventional bill handling machine, there is a problem that the bills transferred to the bill input/output slot are not arranged in line when they are returned, and therefore the bills may not be extracted smoothly. Another problem is that there is not means to notify the user when to re-enter the bills once placed in the bill input/output part nor means to warn about bills the user forgot to take out.
The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and provide a bill handling machine which makes it easy for the user to extract the bills transferred to the bill input/output part and which can warn against forgetting to extract the bills and also notify when to re-enter the bills without increasing the cost of the machine or reducing the function of the bill input/output part.
To achieve the above object, in the present invention, there is particularly provided means to arrange the bills in line, which are to be extracted, in the bill input/output part. More specifically, the bill input/output part includes a movable pusher plate, a fixed front plate, and a partition plate movable between the pusher plate and the front plate, the bills to be paid are stored in a space between the pusher plate and the partition plate, and also includes control means to vary the distance between the pusher plate and the partition plate (the bill output space) according to the number of bills to be stored. Accordingly, the bills can be arranged upright between the pusher plate and the partition plate, making it easy to take out the bills.
In addition, there is provided means to notify when to re-enter the bills that the user extracted. More specifically, there is provided means to widen the distance between the partition plate and the front plate (the bill input space) when the bills stored between the pusher plate and the partition plate have been extracted. Accordingly, the more widely opened bill input space between the partition plate and the front plate makes it easy to re-enter bills in place of reject bills.
Further, there are provided two means to notify the user that there are some bills, which have not been extracted and are remaining in the bill input/output part. One is means to detect a bill that does not measure up to a regular size or a folded bill after the normal bills stored between the pusher plate and the partition plate have been extracted, and the other is means to widen the distance between the pusher plate and the partition plate when a bill is found remaining which is undersized or folded. By these means, the user easily becomes aware of the bill that has not been extracted, thus reducing chances of users walking out unaware of the overlooked bill.